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Andrew ALLAN was the 9th child of David ALLAN
and Janet RENWICK, born in 1857 in Gordon East
Mains, Berwickshire. He was mainly brought up by
his three sisters and father, after Janet RENWICK
died in 1867. This ALLAN family were Tories, and
belonged to the Established church of Scotland, and
believed in social drinking. Father David ALLAN was
apparently very strict, and took away Andrew's
pocket knife for a year when he was little, because
he was digging the dirt with it, on a sabbath!!.
Andrew was a bank clerk in the Bank of Scotland. He
is described as 6ft tall, fair complexion wavy dark
hair and moustache. In 1882 he emigrated to
Melbourne, Australia onboard the "S.S. Liguria'. He
first stayed with the KNOX family, maternal cousins
of his wife-to-be Agnes LYAL, whom he knew back in
Gordon. This KNOX family are descended from Alex
KNOX, brother of John KNOX the Scottish reformer.
Agnes' first cousin William KNOX made 1,000,000
from floating the Broken Hill silver mine in
Victoria. Andrew worked for the Union bank of
Australia in New South Wales (Wagga Wagga),
Victoria (Melbourne), and Tasmania (Latrobe). In
1883 he married Agnes LYAL formerly of Gordon,
Berwickshire. She came to Australia on the ship
"Iberia". While Andrew was in the pioneer town of
Latrobe, he kept a gun on his person at all times,
as the bank had plenty of gold in it. He was
apparently known as a "splendid shot" with a gun.
He offered 1 if anyone in Tasmania or Australia
could beat him, but no-one ever did.
Constant headaches plagued Andrew, and doctors
advised a change in climate. In 1887 they went to
Temuka, New Zealand to see brother Alexander ALLAN.
Upon liking the place, the decision to stay in New
Zealand, or return to Scotland was made by a flip
of a coin. Andrew farmed an orchard for a few years
on 25 acres in Wai-iti Rd, Timaru. The house was
named "Rangimarie". He then started up business in
1892 as a general agent and accountant, at the same
time being a Commission Agent for Victoria
Insurance Company. In 1902 he formed a partnership
with Ernest Le Cren, which was dissolved around
1906-07. He then took charge of the Land Sales
department of the National Mortgage and Agency Pty
Ltd until his death in 1908. He died from a
longstanding lung infection (cancer) after
returning from the Mackenzie country. He lived 21
years in Timaru. Andrew Allan was for many years
the Steward of Reserves at the Timaru High School,
and for some time was a Government valuer for parts
of South Canterbury. He also served two years as
Borough Councillor. He was the 3rd person to own a
motor car in Timaru, in 1904. Four years after his
death, the widow Agnes Allan and two younger
children left for Scotland due to Agnes being sick.
She died in 1921, and was buried in the LYAL family
plot in Gordon, Berwickshire. Daughter Janet had
already returned to New Zealand where she married
Robert WRIGHT in 1919. Daughter Marie did not want
to go to Scotland after the death of her father.
She stayed in New Zealand, marrying twice with no
issue. Son David was in the RNAF in the first World
War. He emigrated to Africa and was a farmer in
Rhodesia and Nyasland. He married three or four
times, adopting two children, but did not have any
direct issue.
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